Meeting! Hello Kitchener–Conestoga Green Party members: The Annual General Meeting for the Kitchener-Conestoga federal Electoral District Association and provincial Constituency Assocation is happening!

The first official outing for the 2019 WRGreens was the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival. Stephanie carried off the most difficult Glorious Greens Pancake Flipping team position – the flipper flipper – with aplomb!

Join our Green Party Nominations

Feel the energy being created by the passionate and dedicated people in your community. Connect with others and learn how the Green Party plans to bring together and boost our economy, community & environment.

Open to everyone and anyone.

In addition to the chance to meet and hear from your candidate nominees, you will also get to listen to some amazing local musicians. Derek Hines and Jason White will be jazzing up the night with their incredible talents and will likely be bringing a few friends along. We may even have a couple of surprise performers join them throughout the night.

Vote in your Green Party candidates for the 2019 Federal Election! Or simply come to learn more about the Green Wave growing in Waterloo Region and across Canada.

Cambridge Nominee

Michele Braniff

Kitchener — Conestoga Nominee

Stephanie Goertz

Kitchener South — Hespeler Nominees

David Weber

Ian Graham

Archie Henderson

There will still be a contest for districts with only one nominee; the ballot also has a choice for “None Of The Above”.

In order to vote for a candidate your membership must have been activated by 6 March 2019, or if you have an expired membership you can renew it before or at the event.

Doors open at 6:30pm with some opening music. The official business gets underway at 7:15pm. We’ll have musical performances scattered throughout the night and we’ll end with an opportunity to socialize while listening to some great tunes. we’ll have some light refreshments available and Edelweiss will be providing additional food and beverage service throughout the night. They are open all day so you can even come early and get some dinner before the event.

Raise a flipper in support of your favourite Green Team — We’ll need as many cheerleaders in the stands, and coaches, trainers, kinesiologists, and physiotherapists may be required, too!

FlapJack with David Weber, Zdravko Gunjevic, Stacey Danckert, Bob Jonkman, and Mike Schreiner, candidates in the 2018 Ontario Provincial Election Our competitive flipperers are the Waterloo Region Green Party candidates for the upcoming federal election in October 2019. Meet your candidates, and shake the hand that flipped a pancake.

In the face of climate change, resource extraction and sprawl, Mike’s draft legislation seeks to protect the Paris Galt Moraine, an essential water ecologically sensitive recharge area in the Grand River Watershed which naturally purifies water for the citizens of Guelph and the surrounding area. Bill 71 would amend the province’s Planning Act and Development Charges Act to more strictly regulate development that could jeopardize the moraine’s integrity.

“This is about conserving what nature can do for free, so I cannot think of a more fiscally responsible solution. Failure to act could put the government on the hook for hundreds of millions in water infrastructure, like an expensive pipeline from the Great Lakes.”
—Mike Schreiner.

Mike wrote the draft legislation over a period of months where he consulted with water experts and Ontario stakeholders, including First Nations, municipalities, farmers and MPPs from all parties.

With this important legislation, Mike has demonstrated the Green Party’s core commitment to participatory democracy and consensus based governance by building all-party support, which resulted in the bill’s passage at Second Reading on March 7th, 2019. “I’m glad my colleagues unanimously showed their commitment to Ontario’s water today. Safeguarding water and food-growing farmland should not be partisan issues. Let this be a first step towards all-party collaboration to protect the places we love,” said Schreiner.

“I appealed to good progressive conservative thinking from the past. But it took four different bills over two years before the Oak Ridges Moraine was protected by legislation. With climate change on Ontario’s doorstep, and $1.2 billion in damage last year alone, we must act quicker. I look forward to working on this bill at committee, and this legislation returning to the House for a final vote.”
—Mike Schreiner, First Green legislation passes key vote with all-party support

This is not a Green Party event, but will be interesting for anyone concerned about water protection and the environment. WRGreens will have an information table at this event!

Doug Ford’s government for the developers has introduced a new disturbing piece of legislation. Bill 66 would allow developers to bypass important environmental protections and land use controls established under other provincial laws, plans and policies, such as the Clean Water Act and the Greenbelt Act, that protect our environment and our health.

The Canadian Environmental Law Association has said that Bill 66 together with other recent “laws to eliminate or dilute important environmental statutes, regulations and programs … constitutes the biggest and most significant environmental rollback to occur in a generation in Ontario.”

Join us to learn more about the implications of Bill 66 for our water and for our future.

What: Our Water Our FutureWhen: Thursday, 7 February 2019 from 7:00pm to 9:00pmWhere: First United ChurchLocation:16 William St W, Waterloo, ON N2L 1J3 Map

While we appear to have made important progress on turning back one of the most egregious components of Bill 66, there remain significant problems in this bill, including Schedule 5 repealing the Toxics Reduction Act. Major concerns remain that the Ford ‘government for the developers’ may reduce the support for monitoring and enforcement of legislation that protects our water, land and air quality.

Join us on February 7th at First United Church in Waterloo at 7pm to celebrate our progress on Bill 66 and to engage with experts as they explain other current dangerous proposals and corresponding calls for action.

We have two powerful keynote speakers: Theresa McClenaghan, Executive Director of the Canadian Environmental Law Association, former water policy advisor for Ministry of the Environment, and legal representative for citizens in the Walkerton Inquiry; and Bruce Davidson, Co-founder and Vice-Chair of Concerned Walkerton Citizens.

There will be lots of time to have your questions answered, as well as presentations from Susan Bryant of APT Environment on Elmira’s ongoing water contamination; Kevin Thomason of Grand River Environmental Network on countryside protection; and Arlene Slocombe of Waterloo Wellington Water Watchers on source water protection.

Refreshments will be served; please bring along your travel mug or water bottle.

Like this:

Excitement in the Green community is at an all time high: the Green movement is growing. You may already be part of it without even realizing it! Every conversation you have about our communities, economies, and environment builds the impetus toward change. We’re seeing an appetite for a green future beyond anything we’ve seen in past elections… and this one hasn’t even begun!

WRGreens are growing a people-powered movement in Waterloo Region to elect our first Green MPs!

People from all parties and backgrounds are invited to come find out how we will make the community, economy, and environment our priority.

WRGreens believe our only credible path toward a healthy and robust future for our region and our country is decisive action: we need to start electing Green MPs. We have all the tools and solutions. All we need do is choose to act together. Be part of the solution by joining the first wave of this movement as we build toward the October election!

Come meet Waterloo Region’s Green Party candidate nominees

So far we have half a dozen declared candidate nominees for Kitchener Centre, and we may have contested nominations in all 5 ridings! This is your chance to find out what our potential Waterloo Region Greens candidates are working for, and why they’ve committed to running under the Green banner in 2019! If you are interested in throwing your hat in the ring (or know someone else who might be) for the riding of

Our first combined nomination meeting will take place on March 6th, when GPC members of the Kitchener Centre and Waterloo EDAs will choose their candidates. Then In April, we’ll host the combined meeting for Kitchener South–Hespeler, Kitchener–Conestoga, and Cambridge candidates.

If you’re not a member yet, before you can vote for the next Green Party Candidate in your riding, you’ll need to join the party. You can purchase your $10 membership online before the preNomination Social, or you can wait and do it at the event.

Whether you’re a GPC member or a friend, this will be a great opportunity to grab a coffee, listen to music, and get to know each other. Families are welcome.